Batman: A Series Analysis

As a series, this one's very inconsistent. Installment to installment, besides the Nolan Era, each differ in production design, in editing and story pacing, acting, music that this series can hardly be defined as a series. A series is, a number of things, events or people of a similar kind or related nature coming one after another. In the fact that Batman, Bruce Wayne, Alfred, Commissioner Gordon and the Bat Signal are in each installment make it one, but the differences and continuity are so choppy due to the writing, production styles and the fact that four differing actors play Batman and Bruce Wayne, to varying effects. As a base, Tim Burton's Batman, really was a poor start. His focus on The Joker rather than the tortured soul of our protagonist Bruce Wayne and his fractured self Batman, was a poor choice to begin with. We're supposed to emotionally connect with Batman and with Bruce Wayne, but his story was glanced over in favor of the insane and really flatly written, but richly played, Joker. As I've said, the defining characteristics of the Burton Era is it's Noir Properties. But the story runs slow, as Noir stories do, but this one is slower than the likes of great modern Noir, such as LA Confidential, who's vice and vestigial virtues were beautifully constructed and the pacing plotted the story's journey so smoothly my soul ached with the sadness that accompanies such films. But God's in the details, someone said at some point, and this one's got all the noir properties. And this time around, the third journey through this so-called series, I noticed that the sets are particularly detailed that the film might've been part of the classic His Girl Friday or It Happened One Night. Especially the newsroom set where Vicki Vale and her colleague Knox are researching Bruce Wayne and Batman. It's a classic newsroom set and we're comfortable believing in the agelessness that it Gotham City, something that is surprisingly consistent in each installment until the Nolan Era. Whereas Tim Burton drags in his first installment, he doesn't disappoint in his second. We still don't focus on the troubled man that is our hero, but we get to see more as we see the life that is Oswald Cobblepotts and the parallel that he seems to have with Wayne's. But the beautiful part is the dark romance and commiseration between the duality in Catwoman and Batman. Michelle Pfieffer's work on this character is the reason I love this particular installment. Catwoman has everything a completely brassed off woman who's just been empowered with new confidence but homicidal tendencies. However, all she wants is some peace, and the head of her boss and murderer on a platter. So her fractured personality is what Bruce understands and their passion is as feral as the cats that turned her. It truly fits with the Noir properties of the Burton era, and Pfieffer's completely smoking. She completely commands the climax, with such power that it's impossible not to be in awe. She is the perfect femme fatale. Schumacher's Batman Forever is nothing but action and the pacing is quick and operatic with musical performances by all involved. Also, we finally engage the emotional connection we've been wanting in regards to the troubled past of our dark avenger. And passing it off with great finesse is the absolutely fabulous, Val Kilmer. He has a calm with can only be read as haunted and, because he is, he's able to get through to a hot-headed Robin. The partnership of Two Face and The Riddler is appropriately entertaining and just as colorful. This one reminds me that the series is based on a comic book, due to the color and quick pacing. The action never seems to end and the emotion seems as out of control, making for a good balance. Performances are all top notch, allowing us to enjoy the experience. Honestly, until the Nolan era, this one was my favorite. I'm such a fan of everyone involved in front of the camera and I don't mind all the colors, chaos and flatness from Two Face, I enjoy the multiple angles of story lines and the focus on the blossoming partnership between Batman and Robin. Its pacing allows for my brain to calm and for my senses to just take over; it's very capably done and does what it means to. So, in the end, it really is all right. Suiting up for the "red-headed stepchild" of the first four installments, George Clooney and Chris O'Donnell hit back as Batman and Robin against Arnold Schwarzenegger and Uma Thurman's Mr Freeze and Poison Ivy. Suiting up, Batman and Robin are up against bad cliches and forced emotional content when Schumacher's era comes to a close. With competent performances turned in from Alicia Silverstone (who, I think, should have sported a British Accent) and O'Donnell, rock solid ones from Thurman and Clooney and unfortunately, a spot on performance from Schwarzenegger, why, then, does this one turn me off? Besides the addition of Batgirl to the Bat Cave (which is, in itself, a weak plot point) the series' momentum, emotionally and literarily, goes nowhere. The plot reads as a "creature of the week" episode with little work done on the mythology. In previous opinions, I've only thought that Clooney is good as Batman alone, but now I'm convinced he does Bruce Wayne justice as well. But Thurman's work on Poison Ivy is beyond brilliant, she steals (whatever is there to steal) the show from her Gotham City entrance (at the costume gala) to her final fight with Batman, Robin and Batgirl. It's a shame, really, that this cast wasn't given more to work with so that the audience feels less robbed. Wisely, Christopher Nolan chose in Batman Begins to reboot the series beginning with Bruce Wayne's childhood tragedy to his rise as The Dark Knight with his defeat of Ra's al Guhl and The League of Shadows. Nolan and David S Goyer's carefully sculpted starting point for the career of Batman and his alter-ego Bruce Wayne teems with an emotional plot that drives forward ensnaring the audience from the start. Production design shifted in the exact polar direction from Batman Forever and Batman & Robin which hardens the edges and gives an air of realism to the Batman Universe allowing the audience to connect to that world, because Batman is feasible, having no super powers of his own. Christian Bale's casting also gives an air of The Everyman, along with the royalty that is Bruce Wayne, giving the audience a relatable protagonist; we hurt when he does, we can feel cocky with him, and relate to his desperation and despair. And Bale's physicality grants him the "street cred" necessary to prove Batman's feasibility. Adding to the realism is a job well-done by the prop department in that all the gadgets and vehicles are designed from current technology. Not only is Batman's casting supreme, but the others are brilliantly done, as well. Michael Caine's Alfred offers a wise and physically capable presence to the series which is slightly more credible than long-standing Michael Gough's. Cilian Murphy, Tom Wilkenson, and Liam Neeson offer very human performances, without overdoing their presence allowing us to connect and showing us the danger of human corruption. Katie Holmes offers a positive and duty-driven presence, which wisely shows Wayne the way toward Batman in Rachel Dawes. Morgan Freeman shows us, in Lucius Fox, a wise and technically and scientifically savvy man who's been waiting for Batman and Bruce Wayne to come to Gotham in order for him to fulfill his destiny. And then, Gary Olman, whose presence adds hope, humility and honesty showing that not all in Gotham is rotten and that good people need Batman's help. The brilliance of the duality of James Newton Howard and Hans Zimmer's battling scores presents an emotional support as well as the adrenaline rush driving the fighting spirit behind Batman, battling for dominance over which persona the man will choose. And it's beautiful. Realism drove Batman Begins, but it's hysterical tension that drives The Dark Knight. From the opening scene with The Joker's bank robbery, which the mechanics of the filmmaker's craft is so brilliantly executed, the tension is assisted with absolute class, toward the final monologue delivered with inspiring feeling by Oldman, this film is excellent and outstrips all five predecessors without effort. Dull sorrow which is unending from the final crisis, Rachel Dawes' death and the scarring of Harvey Dent, through the final fight leading to the end aids the audience to realize the real conflict beneath all the action, through to what is really at stake both for Batman and Bruce Wayne. And the agent of that conflict explains himself in what we're made to believe is the climax, but the real climax is yet to come and the face off between the architects comes to the conclusion which gives me goosebumps and stops my breath every time the film concludes without fail. The performer behind the tension is The Dark Knight's crowning jewel, in a performance conspiracy theorists name as the contributing factor leading to his death: Heath Ledger's brilliant, disturbing, honest and completely human take on Batman's arch-rival, The Joker. Unlike the ballistic nature of Nicholson's performance, and the complete lack of a backstory, Ledger's Joker is never out of control. He is Iago; twisting, seducing in manipulation toward an end that turns the foundations of decency topsy-turvey. No one leaves the story untouched by The Joker's reign of terror; in the end, Batman sacrifices his reputation in order to begin the slow climb back to balance the scales, and Bruce Wayne loses the love of his life. But sacrifice is what superheroes do: for their protectants, their cause and for the greater good. This series, along with most superhero stories, inspires its audience to not be complacent with the suffering of a bleak society and to help the helpless. The dangerous man is an indifferent man, and so the role models some look to are superheroes. Superman is dedicated to "truth, justice and the American way." The Boondock Saints destroy all that which is evil, so that which is good may flourish. Daredevil seeks to achieve justice for those whom conventional justice has failed. Superheroes sacrifice their own desires, needs, comforts and, sometimes, their lives to prowl the night helping others. May we be as bold in the daylight, even as "mere" humans, because even if The Nolan Era's Batman is feasible, he's still fictitious and we are alive, here and now. **** IN: Michael Caine Out: Gary Oldman Coming Soon: The Contender